


The Hateful Two

by onnall



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Mild Language, The Hateful Eight - Freeform, bounty hunter AU, some mild violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-03-15
Packaged: 2018-05-23 13:40:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6118165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onnall/pseuds/onnall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hux, the Hangman, had been following his bounty, Kylo Ren, for five days, and he was about to make his move to take him in to hang...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I'm here to take you in to hang

**Author's Note:**

> Since in a galaxy far far away we also have bounty hunters such as Boba Fett, I just want to make it clear that this is not that type of bounty hunter. This is merely me, putting them into the relationship mirroring John Ruth and Daisy Domergue from The Hateful Eight because I'm a helpless Tarantino fan. So, this is more like a 1/4 of The Hateful Eight AU, hence the title.

It had been five days since Hux got on the bounty's trail. That was five days since he actually got his eyes on the bounty and started following him. He spent about a month collecting intel to locate his whereabouts and another ten days to track him down to this shitty town.

It was the biggest bounty issued in the last 15 years. Hux was sure every bounty hunter would want to try their hands on this. He was well aware that he didn't have the luxury of time, he might have been ahead of everyone now, but his professional reputation might cost him dearly this time.

Despite the pressure of time and competition, Hux was not going to change his way of work. He still would bring in the bounty to hang.

_Kylo Ren, the bounty hunter killer, 100,000, dead or alive_ , said the handbill.

The sketch on the handbill was that of a young man, long face, long dark hair, description said he was tall and well built. Weapon of choice was a sword, but also carried a pistol.

Hux was sincerely surprised that the authority managed to get that much _detail_ onto the handbill.

This was the hottest part of the world during this time of the year. Just by crouching on a rooftop and not doing much of anything else, the sweat already soaked Hux’s shirt. In the last five days Hux followed Kylo Ren from one of the biggest towns in this area to the newly developed commercial center of this area to this ghetto. Not that Hux was judging anyone, but this place just seemed hopeless. The look of the people here made you feel that they would never, and maybe didn't even want to get out of this shit hole. But Hux could not wait to get away from here and drag Kylo Ren to his execution.

Kylo Ren seemed to be meeting some people in the last two towns, Hux hoped that this shithole was where Kylo Ren needed to make his last contact and he could make his move afterwards.

The hopelessness of this town was also bothering Hux in another way. He stood out here. He had tried his best to look just like the people here. The clothes people wore, if they actually wore any, didn't seem to be washed ever. They always had mud or dirt or whatever else Hux didn't even want to know smeared on the face and any pieces of flesh revealed and stuck in the hair. They didn’t really wander about that much. They seemed to be quite content just lying around some random corner or the porch of some houses that didn’t seem to be able to withstand the mildest wind, wearing the needles they didn't even bother to pull out.

Hux knew if they stayed in this shithole any longer he would be made.

On the other hand, Kylo Ren didn't seem to be worrying about fitting in at all. In the last five days Hux had noticed how cocky Ren was. He might as well just wear a sign saying _My name is Kylo Ren, I'm worth 100k, come and get me_.

Watching Kylo Ren sitting in a saloon across the street from the roof Hux was hiding, seemingly waiting for someone, sipping from a glass of drink that Hux was sure neither the glass nor the drink was clean, for the first time in years Hux had the urge to just put a bullet in Ren's back like almost every other bounty hunters would do and claim the bounty the easy way.

_Bringing desperate men in alive, is a good way to get yourself dead_ , a fellow bounty hunter once commented on Hux's working style.

 

_Well, we shall see_ , Hux thought to himself as he saw Kylo Ren settling his bills and exiting the saloon. He lowered himself a bit more so that he was hiding better on the roof.

Kylo Ren was standing by the side of the muddy street, he glanced to his left and right and looked up to the roof across the street, where Hux was hiding. He raised his right hand and mocked a salute to Hux's position. "Hey ginger beauty, care to come down and join me?"

"Fuck." Hux cursed to himself. He hesitated for a moment whether he should just acknowledge the fact that he had been made or quietly sit this one out and fleet the scene. Not wanting to risk losing this bounty to the competition, Hux jumped down from the roof. His gun was pointing at Kylo Ren when he landed on the ground.

"Hey, if you wanted me dead you'd have killed me in the last two days that you’ve been following me." Kylo Ren spread his arms and grinned to Hux who was walking across the street with the gun still pointed to Ren.

_So he didn't notice me before last town_ , Hux felt the slightest bit relieved. "You are right, I'm not here to kill you." He pulled the trigger before he could finish the sentence and the bullet landed in Ren's right shoulder.

"What the fuck!!" Ren was blown a step back as blood splashed from his right shoulder and a chained handcuff locked around his right wrist.

"But I'm here to take you in to hang." The other end of the chain was cuffed on Hux's left wrist. He kicked Ren down to the ground and pointed the gun to Ren's left knee. "Don't even think about your sword or pistol, or you are getting one in the kneecap."

"Who the fuck are you, you maniac?!" Ren screamed as Hux removed his sword and pistol from his waist.

"Hux, the Hangman. You shut your mouth." Hux said as he used his gun handle to land a blow on Ren's face. Ren's nose started bleeding.

Looking at the realization appearing on Ren's face, Hux knew his reputation had legs. He wished that this would also mean Ren could be intimidated into accepting his fate.

What Ren did wasn’t quite a reflection of being intimidated by Hux. He licked the blood from his upper lip, while staring at Hux with a huge smile on his face, and then he started laughing hysterically.

Hux was stunned by this sudden outburst. Before he could attack Ren again, Ren had flipped him over and strangled him with the chain linking them together from behind. Ren's left hand was gripping Hux's left wrist with the handcuff as if to break his bones, and his right hand wrapped the chain for another loop around Hux's neck.

Hux tried to use his right hand to release the chains from his neck but all he felt was the chain tightening even more and the air going out but not coming in into his lungs. He fell back hard onto his right shoulder to hit Ren's wounded shoulder. As he heard another scream from Ren and felt the chains loosening, he dashed up, grabbed Ren's sword he just left on the ground, turned around and stabbed it into the open gunshot wound in Ren's shoulder.

"I have no problem cutting off all your limbs as long as you are still breathing when I hand you to the Sheriff. You got it?" leaning on the sword and sitting on Ren's body to get his breath back, Hux picked up Ren's pistol and tucked it onto his own belt behind his back. "You got it?" Hux lowered his head, almost breathing down Ren's face, and asked again.

"I got it." Ren still had a huge grin on his face while squeezing out the answer.

Hux stood up and led Ren up from the ground with the chain. His left wrist hurt like hell. _This son-of-a-bitch might have really broken the bones_ , thought Hux.

 

Ren appeared to be behaving himself for the time being, quietly plotting the next escape attempt maybe. He followed Hux as Hux led them to the stagecoach station just outside of town.

Hux was really grateful that this shitty town had a stagecoach station that resembled a civilized world. He didn't believe any locals would actually use it ever though.

Hux was also very grateful that the law enforcement in this region was part of the circuit court so he could hand Ren over in about six days rather than travelling half way across the world to the central government and complicating things.

While waiting for the stagecoach driver to prepare the horses, Hux decided to go to the restroom to fresh up. He was very eager to wash away the dirt he put on his face on purpose and the smudges gathered in the last few days through the heat, and of course, whatever he just put on through the fight with Kylo Ren.

"Where are we going?" Kylo Ren stood firmly by the stagecoach as Hux tried to go to the restroom, the pull made Hux's wrist sting once again.

" _I_ am going to the restroom, and you will follow me." Hux used his right hand to pull the chain.

"Are we doing everything together now?!"

"Yes, until you hang." Hux pulled again and Ren followed up with him to the restroom.

"What about my shoulder? I'll bleed to death, Mr. Hangman."

"I'll take a look when we get on the stagecoach. If we need anything we can get it in the next town." Hux started to wash his face and hair as Ren stood next to him.

"How long is the journey?" Ren used his left hand to keep pressure on the wound as he watched Hux wash himself.

"Six days, give or take."

"So I have six days to kill you and get away."

"You want to talk yourself to death right now?" Hux reached for his gun on the belt as he spoke.

"Just saying." Ren shrugged, which made him wince because of the shoulder wound.

"I'm done, if you don't need to wash then let's go."

When they came out of the restroom the stagecoach driver was ready. Hux gave Ren's weapon to the driver to keep out of sight and entered the stagecoach first, facing forward. He helped Kylo Ren onto the stagecoach and gestured him to sit across from him. Neither of them had any big luggage to be loaded, so the driver took off after Hux pounded the top of the stagecoach twice.

 

"Let me see that shoulder." Hux took out a small kit from his backpack. He opened it, took out the disinfectant and bandages, and put them next to himself on the seat.

"You practice a lot on your prisoners?" Kylo Ren asked as he unbuttoned his shirt to show the wound. The shirt was stuck on his body by the dried blood, removing it made him wince again.

"Lean back." Hux left his guns on his seat and moved over. He placed one knee between Ren's legs and pinned Ren to the back of the seat. "I'll just clean the wound and patch it up, won't heal fast but also won't kill you." Hux said after examining the wound.

As Hux was cleaning the wound, Kylo Ren's eyes were fixated on his face, from his eyebrows, to his eyelashes, to his nose, to his lips and then to his beard.

"I guess you can give them a very precise description of who sent you there when you go to hell." Hux said as he started to patch up the wound, not holding Ren's gaze.

"Is a dying man not allowed to enjoy a feast to the eyes?" Ren smiled.

"So you are changing your strategy of getting yourself off the hook huh?" Hux was still concentrating on the wound.

"Nah, the plan is still to kill you. ahhhhh." Ren cried out as Hux applied more than necessary amount of pressure on the wound.

"You finish it yourself." Hux dropped back into his seat, refused to take care of the wound any more.

Ren smirked at Hux as he continued with the wrapping of bandages after Hux gave up. "You know your business model isn't very efficient. You can only transport one prisoner at a time, you pay for the transport, you need to keep me fed, and there is always the very high possibility, and in my case, certainty, of the prisoner killing you to escape. What's wrong with you?"

"You have no idea what I get from this. This isn't just about the money." A flash of light flickered through Hux's eyes.

"So how long have you been doing this?" Ren finished with the bandages and handed the rest back to Hux.

"A few years. You are the one under arrest, stop asking me questions."

"Just trying to get a better description of the bounty hunter I kill this time." But Ren didn't really go on with questions.

 

In the next few hours, the scenery outside of the coach changed from nothing but muddy hills to crops cultivated by villagers outside of the town they are heading to. This time of the year, it was right before harvest time, red, yellow gains hanging heavily on the crops, covering endless acres of ground.

_I’ll also collect the harvest of my hard work soon_ , thought Hux.


	2. It's called self-defense

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day of the journey to bring Kylo Ren to hang...

"Subject has a black eye, slightly bruised left cheek, laceration on lips, otherwise fits the facial description and sketch on the handbill. Subject also has four broken ribs, extensive bruises in the lower torso, a sprained right ankle, bruises on the right wrist consistent with the handcuffs used by the bounty hunter and deep ligature marks on both wrists and both ankles." The Sheriff read out loud the processing card while writing out the bounty reward. "Mr. Hux, thank you very much for bringing the criminal in to justice. You can go collect the reward now. If you'd like to stick around for the execution, it's scheduled for the day after tomorrow."

"Thank you, Sheriff." When Hux turned to leave, his attention was caught by a new wanted poster on the Sheriff's wall. "Is this serious? I've never seen bounty with this kind of reward."

"You must have heard of him right, with all the killing of your profession? I think he started just like all the others, ten to twenty grand for several accounts of murder. But then he whacked several bounty hunters and the authority bumped up the reward." The Sheriff opened the door of his office. "Son Number One! Get me a handbill of that hundred-grand cocksucker." He yelled into the corridor outside of his office.

"Got it Pop!" One of the Sheriff's lieutenants stepped in and gave a handbill to Hux.

"Good luck with this one." The Sheriff nodded to Hux as Hux left the office.

\-------------------------------------------------

"We are here! You guys OK to find your own place to stay? I'm going to a fellow driver's place." When the stagecoach stopped at the stagecoach station at the next town, the driver hopped onto the side of the coach and opened the door for Hux and Ren.

"Thank you, we will see you here tomorrow morning." Hux shook the hand of the driver, and took over the weapons the driver returned to him.

This town's folks clearly care more, when they see two fellas chained together, they stared, or tried very hard not to stare.

Ren was wearing the chains like a prize, waving his free hand to people to greet if they stared longer than they probably should have.

"Let's get something for tomorrow first, we won't get to the next town until later tomorrow night." Hux pulled Ren into a small store by the side of the main road.

Hux took some bread, beef jerky and a pack of bottled water from the shelf. He gestured Ren to also get something he wanted but Ren shook his head, so Hux went on to get some other variations of dried meat. At the counter, Hux asked for more disinfectant, bandages and some painkillers. The store owner stared at the chains the whole time when he was processing the purchase and payment, but he knew better than to ask.

After leaving the store, the two wandered on the main street and found a quieter bar which also served food for dinner.

"You OK at the bar or you want a table?" The bartender asked when Hux and Ren entered.

"Bar is OK." Hux sat down at the middle of the bar, Ren followed to sit on his left. "Before the food, you got some ice?"

"Sure." The bartender used a glass to shove some ice out of the icebox and put it in front of Hux.

"I'll need a bucket full of that."

"Hmmm.. OK." The bartender hesitated for a moment, but obliged anyway.

Hux stuck his left hand together with the handcuff on his wrist into the bucket. Ren had to also put his right hand on the bar table.

"If you don't mind me asking, is that some sort of bond play?" The bartender asked when distributing the menu to the two.

"The handcuff? No, I'm taking this prisoner to hang. I'll just have your special main for today." Hux tapped on the menu before sliding it back to the bartender.

"I'll have the chef's choice, and a beer." Ren made a gesture of cutting his throat and winked at the bartender.

"Any drink for you, sir?" The bartender turned back to Hux.

"No. I'll have a glass of water."

The bartender soon returned with the beer and water. There weren't that many people for her to serve, so she stayed where Hux and Ren were sitting.

"Mr. Bounty Hunter, I'm assuming?" When Hux nodded, the bartender went on. "You know you need to be able to display a valid handbill when requested."

"Yes, that is correct." Hux took a sip from his water.

"Then show it to me."

"Why you wanna see?" Hux frowned, he expected maybe Ren had accomplice waiting for him on the way, but didn't really believe this lone wolf could have any, and he didn't believe they could walk right into Ren's escape plan.

"Well how do I know you are not holding a good man against his will to fulfill some of your own filthy fantacy."

"The filthy fantasy part is exactly what's happening!" Ren burst out in laughter.

Hux knocked on Ren's wounded shoulder and kept pressuring on the wound till Ren let out a groan. "Shut the fuck up." He stared at the bartender and retrieved the handbill from the inner pocket of his jacket. "Here you go."

"Oh, bounty hunter killer, Mr. Ren. I'm surprised Mr. Bounty Hunter here didn't shoot you on site, just for his fellow bounty hunters." The bartender handed the handbill back to Hux. "Your courses are here." The bartender nodded to the waiter who served the food to the bar.

"They deserve to hang, a bullet in the back is too easy." Hux stared right at Kylo Ren, with a hint of smile on his face.

"Can you take your hand out of the bucket? I can't eat." Ren pulled on the chain. Hux moved the bucket and himself closer to Ren so he can reach his plate.

"So why bounty hunters? Sure made yourself a huge bounty." The bartender just had too many questions.

"When someone come to kill you, wouldn't you try to kill back? It's called self-defense, honey." Ren raised his glass of beer to mock a _cheers_ gesture to the bartender.

Hux glanced at Ren, but didn't make a comment.

Then the bartender was called away by new customers, the two could finally enjoy their meals in silence.

 

"Good luck with your journey, Mr. Bounty Hunter." The bartender waved to Hux when the two were leaving the bar.

"Thanks." Hux nodded to the bartender. When he was about to step outside the bar, Ren suddenly grabbed his waist and pulled him back into the bar to hide by the wall. That was also when bullets started flying into the bar through the door and windows.

"Stay down." Ren said into Hux's ear.

One round of shooting seemed to be over. Half of the customers and waiters, especially waiters, in the bar were down, others were shivering underneath their table.

"Can you crawl? I mean your shoulder. We better hide behind the bar." Hux said under his breath, pointing to the ten meter long bar table about five meters from where they were hiding. He decided to worry about how Ren saw the bullets coming at a later time.

"I can manage."

The first few steps were a disaster, because of the chain. The two almost rolled to the door, which would be a really good way to get shot when the second round of shooting comes.

"We gotta move in sync. Follow my lead." Hux pushed Ren off of him and waited for him to also steady himself to start crawling again. And the second time around was a bit better. They managed to crawl to the back of the bar more in sync, just before the second round of bullets started flying in. They leaned onto the bar table next to the bartender who was bledding, groaning and rolling on the floor because of a wound to the left arm.

"I count three rifles." Kylo Ren said into Hux's ear. "And they are closing in to the bar." After a pause, "Now two more hand guns."

Hux decided to add the question _how the fuck can you tell that_ to the _worry about it later_ list. Hux nudged the bartender to help her up and lean on the table just like the two of them.

"General Hux!" When the bullets stopped, a man's voice appeared by the door, it sounded like an old man's voice. "My name is Lieutenant Raine, we mean you no harm."

"General? Is that your name?" Kylo Ren whispered. Hux covered his mouth.

"That is of course, if you give us the bounty. We are here to take his life, and his body, not yours. We can give you a cut to show our appreciation." The voice by the door started again. "You know it's kind of selfish of you to try to keep it all to yourself."

Hux looked through a narrow breach on the bar table, he saw two men at the windows, half hiding, pointing two rifles into the bar covering half of the space and the end of the bar that they were hiding behind, and one man next to the door frame. Hux couldn't see his face, but he could see that man's hand guns reaching into the bar covering the far end of the bar from their side.

"I can see three men and three guns." Hux said under his breath next to Ren's ear while the man was shouting the deal.

"One of them rounded back to the kitchen with a rifle, he will come through that door." Ren pointed to the kitchen door to their right.

Hux took his guns and Ren's gun from his belt, counted his bullets and fully loaded his guns. Ren's gun had three bullets left. He slightly pushed the bartender, gestured at the gun. The bartender nodded as if saying she could shoot. Hux pointed at the kitchen door with the gun and gave the gun to the bartender. He then turned to the breach to look at the other three again. They were still in their earlier position.

Hux had never heard of any bounty hunter teams, this must have been some temporary arrangement, he assumed. And that Lieutenant, Hux did not want to know whether it was a current title or just someone who wouldn't let go of the war era.

With a bang, the kitchen door was kicked open, and with another bang, the bartender fired at the newcomer as Hux asked. She fired all three rounds into the man's torso.

At the same time, Hux rose with the two guns in his hand and shot at the two men at the window. Kylo Ren was trying to stay as low as he could to get clear from the returning shot, though his right hand was going up with Hux's left hand. Four bullets flew out of Hux's guns, the two men at the windows were down too, and Hux hid back down behind the bar. The man at the door was now walking into the bar trying to shoot through the bar table.

The three behind the bar started to crawl further inside the other end of the bar as bullets were flying over their heads and started penetrating the bar table. Kylo Ren picked up a wine bottle and pointed another one to the bartender, and they stopped mid length of the bar table. Hux crawled as far as he could with one hand attached to Ren.

With a silent count to threem, Ren and the bartender threw the bottles in their hands out of the bar, they were shattered by Lieutenant Raine's bullets. That was also when Hux shot Raine in the hand, in the knee and in the crotch.

"That's low blow. Mr. Hangman." Kylo Ren said with the gun man's scream in the background.

"Bartender, take this gun. Collect their weapons. Be careful, they are not dead." Hux handed one of his guns to the bartender and headed out for the two gun men at the window with Kylo Ren.

When all guns haves been collected, Hux cuffed all four men and knelt down beside Lieutenant Raine, trying to find his papers. "Wow, you really got paperwork. Is this how you always do business?" Hux glanced at the bounty hunter designation and tossed it onto the man's face. "Sorry about the mess in the bar, can you handle it from here?" Hux turned to the bartender.

"Yeah, sure. Here's your guns." The bartender handed back Ren's gun and Hux's gun.

"Actually, any place you recommend for us to lay low for the night?" Hux tugged the guns back to his holsters and asked the bartender.

"I do have a friend who runs a place. Let me write down the address for you. Just tell him Julia send you." She scribbled down on a piece of napkin not drained by all the alcohol splattered on the bar. "He can be trusted."

"You are bleeding." Ren pointed his hand to his neck.

Hux didn't really feel the pain, but when he reached his hand to the neck and felt the wound and warm blood trickling down. He realized it was quite a deep cut, probably from Raine's last few shots. He took down the handkerchief tucked in the back of his pants and tied it around the wound. "Thanks."

"So, Julia, thank you very much. Hope these bastards all get sorted out soon." After quickly fixing his wound, Hux reached out to shake Julia's hand.

"Might take a few days for the authorities to come, but I'll get them all tied up." Julia smiled, and also shook Ren's chained hand.

 

The place Julia recommended was not on the main road. It was in a quiet neighborhood, with no clear sign to suggested hired accommodation. The place looked just like another residential house, with only the exception of a red neon sign of four Xes on the door.

Hux knocked on the door, after a few seconds, a man opened the door.

"Julia sent us here, your bartender friend." Hux nodded to the man at the door.

"Oh welcome. I'm Warren." He shook both men's hands and let them into the house. "Please make yourself at home at the bar first, play some music, get a drink, I'll prepare the rooms for you."

"One room is enough." Hux raised his hand to show the chain.

"One room it is!" Warren hurried upstairs.

"You wanna tell me how you see the shots, count the guns?" With the bar empty, and only a few guests in the restaurant out of the earshot, Hux decided to finally start questioning Ren about this bizarre experience.

"Maybe you can explain _General Hux_ first?" Ren pulled over a small plate of nuts on the bar counter and started chewing.

"Oh, no no. This is not a negotiation." Hux also picked some nuts from the plate.

Ren stared at Hux with an intense look, as if trying to find a way to make Hux talk. "I wanna take a look at that jukebox." Instead of going on with the topic, Ren pointed at the jukebox standing next to the bar.

Hux wanted to say _sit your ass here and tell your fucking story_ , but he stood up and followed Ren to the jukebox.

"Well, I can't explain. I don't know how, but sometimes I just know stuff." said Ren, as he read through the track listing of the jukebox, which was signed as _handpicked by Jungle Julia_. "It's a weird feeling, like an energy flow or something. But that's all I can describe. That's how I survived all your bounty hunter friends' attack. I saw their bullets coming. You got coins?" Ren reached out one hand to Hux.

"But I shot you." Hux fished out some coins and handed them to Ren. "And other bounty hunters are not my friends."

"That was too close range." Ren gestured at the approximate point that Hux took the shot, and selected a song from the jukebox. "The other guys usually take cold shots from a long distance, so I have time to dodge."

Hux couldn't say that he was satisfied with the answer. He didn't like things that couldn't be explained, and this was not the only thing that couldn't be explained today. Hux evaluated the possibility of Kylo Ren letting those other bounty hunters shoot him dead at the doorstep and escaping himself. His conclusion was a very high possibility. But Kylo Ren didn't do that, and Hux was not prepared to ask the question yet. _Maybe he wanted to have a even better opportunity, let's not remind him of escaping_ , thought Hux.

"Gentlemen, you can come upstairs whenever you are ready." Warren came down the stairs and took a slight bow to Hux and Ren. The two left the bar to follow Warren upstairs.

 

When Warren left the room, Hux took out his little medical kit and headed for the bathroom to clean up the cut on his neck.

"Imagine the shot going one more inch to the right." Ren was looking at Hux's reflection in the mirror while leaning on the bathroom wall.

"Then your body would've been on the way with Lieutenant Raine at the moment too, you dumbass." Hux didn't look away from his own wounds in the mirror to Ren.

"I'm not so sure about that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for all the references to names in Tarantino's film universe, I just can't help it.


	3. You can have this one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Half way through the journey, vengeance caught up with Kylo Ren...

"Subject has a crushed right cheek bone, severely swollen left eye, torn lips, dislocated jaw. With major disfigurement, county jail is unable to compare the subject with the sketch and description on the handbill. Weapons handed in by the bounty hunter fit the weapon types of the subject." The Sheriff put down the processing card and sighed. "Son, is this your first job?"

"Well, third. This one eh... tried harder to escape." Hux didn't try to look away from the Sheriff's stare as he sat relaxed in the chair across the desk from the Sheriff.

"Let me tell you something, son." The Sheriff stood up and moved to the side of Hux and leaned back to sit on the desk. "We don't really care what you do with them. We don't even need them to come in alive, so go figure. But we do need you to keep their faces recognizable for us to positively ID them and _pay you_."

"Duly noted."

\-------------------------------------------------

In the day after they left the town where the other bounty hunters tried to get a piece of Kylo Ren, things were going smoothly on the way. And the next day was also approaching an end so Hux was ready to round that up to two. No one showed up uninvited to the party, no delays on the way, Ren seemed to be OK with the arrangement of his hang.

For the last bit, Hux told himself not to be delusional.

"There have been people following us since we had lunch in the last town." Just as Hux mapped out in his mind the 100th possibility of Ren's escape, with a fiery sunset view outside of their running stagecoach, Ren started talking.

"Is this from your all magical feeling?" Hux looked back from the outside to Ren, keeping his tone as flat as possible.

"It's not magical. But yeah, I can feel it. They took another road about an hour ago and then circled back to us, and they are about to stop our stagecoach soon."

Hux didn't want to believe Ren. He'd rather take this as part of Ren's plan to escape. But he prepared his guns anyway.

After a few minutes, they heard the driver commanding the horses to stop and the stagecoach stopped rather abruptly.

"You got a problem with your horses?" They heard the driver yelling to whoever stopped them.

"We'd like to speak to your passengers." It was a woman's voice, in a firm tone, but sounded rather young.

Then they heard the footsteps approaching.

"Stop right there." When he could see the young woman from inside the stagecoach, Hux reached out one gun through the window and pointed at her.

"Hey you, drop your gun!" A man rushed in front of the young woman and pulled a gun at Hux.

"And the other side." Ren said almost without a sound.

"Uncle Budd, stand down. We are just here to talk." The young woman put a hand on the man's arm, he reluctantly withdrew his gun. "And you too, Aunt Elle, please." The other side of the stagecoach, a one-eyed blonde woman rested her rifle. Hux didn't see her at first before Ren warned him, he could've been shot.

"I'm sorry I can't lower my gun just because you lowered yours, I'd like to keep this advantage." Hux moved his gun point a slight bit to aim at Budd rather than the young woman, who was seemingly unarmed.

"I understand." The young woman nodded. "If you can just hear me explain, General Hux, you will also understand our standpoint."

"Here comes that _General_ again." Ren said with a low voice, but in an amused tone, which got him a kick in the leg from Hux.

"What do you want from me?" Hux considered the young woman, long blonde hair, not as light as Elle's hair on the other side of the stagecoach though, slim, tall, and seemed to be in her early twenties.

"We want your prisoner. We can pay you the bounty as stated on the handbill, so don't worry about losing the business gain." The young woman pat on the saddle bag she was carrying, Hux guessed that must have been the payment.

"I have to say I didn't consider this to be his escape plan." Hux shot a stare at Ren but was still addressing the young woman outside.

"Oh we are not rescuing him. We want to kill him." The young woman raised her voice. "And we don't mind your help, General Hux."

"He will hang in three days. Can't you be a bit patient?" Hux was confused.

"General Hux, with all due respect, we don't think you can successfully transfer him in the first place. But just for argument’s sake, let's say you can. It was too easy for him to hang. I want to avenge my father's death myself, gut him with my own knife."

"Miss Revenge, even if he has a bounty on his head, without being a part of law enforcement, your frontier justice is still murder." Hux didn't really buy the revenge theory, but was willing to play along for the time being.

Ren seemed to be not concerned about the conversation at all despite the fact that it was his very death being discussed. He even started humming some melody, which got him a kick in the leg from Hux again.

"Don't fucking distract me if you don't want to die today." Hux tried not to let the people outside the stagecoach hear this.

"If a bounty is put on my head for this murder, I'm happy to have someone like you to take me in. Although I don't think the authority would worry too much about a dead mass murderer." The young woman's voice was as firm as always.

"No can do. My job is to deliver him to the Sheriff. This isn't about collecting the bounty."

Hearing this, Budd raised his gun again, so did Elle on the other side of the stagecoach.

"And if you want to kill me to get to him, then you are not avenging your father's death, you are just on a killing frenzy. Not much different from the mass murderer you try to rage your vengeance on." Hux raised the other hand to point the gun at Elle while he was talking.

"You are determined to protect a murderer, against justice, which you should represent?" The young woman took one step further.

"I don't represent the frontier justice you are suggesting. Stay where you are." Hux glanced at Kylo Ren, he knew now would be the perfect chance for Ren to attack him if he was working with these three.

Ren was still relaxed in his side of the seat, eyes closed, as if waiting for a running stagecoach to rock him to sweet dreams.

"Then we will have to..." Before the young woman could finish the sentence, Ren jumped out of the stagecoach from Elle's side.

Elle was surprised by this sudden move. Her rifle was snatched right out of her hands by Kylo Ren. She also took one in the face from the gun barrel and dropped unconscious to the ground.

Ren then leaned on the stagecoach and took a shot at Budd in his hand which was holding the gun and in the left knee. Also surprised by the sudden change, Budd hadn't even turned his gun to Ren.

The young woman reach one hand to her back, but Ren shot her in the elbow.

Hux was dragged tumbling out of the stagecoach by Ren's jump and the chain, he lied on the ground next to Ren, dazed, left shoulder dislocated, and still attached to Ren. He couldn't see what was going on on the other side of the stagecoach, but he could hear the people screaming.

"Toss your weapon to the side, the one you were reaching behind you back!" Ren yelled at the young woman, in the midst of scream of _you-son-of-a-bitch_ and _motherfucker_ from the young woman and Budd.

"Fuck you!" The young woman reached to her back with the other hand and swung a knife out. Instead of tossing it to the side, she tried to throw it at Kylo Ren. But before she could make a decent throw, Ren already shot her in the hand. The knife flew away, and the young woman was left screaming even louder.

"And you, whatever you are concealing in your boots, toss it aside!" Now Ren was yelling to Budd who was screaming on the ground. He obliged, with a _fuck-you_ though.

All three disarmed, Ren rested the rifle on his shoulder.

"You drop the gun or you'll say adios to your huevos" Hux pointed his gun in the right hand against Ren's crotch while still lying on the ground. "Judy! Let loose their horses, torch their stagecoach, drop their guns in the fire and we are outta here!"

Judy the stagecoach driver had been hiding under the stagecoach since Ren started shooting. "Mr. Bounty Hunter I think we oughtta talk about payment again! This trip is way too dangerous!"

"We can talk that when we are outta here." Hux struggled up when Ren gave the rifle to Judy who crawled out from underneath the stagecoach, still shaking. He picked up the gun that he dropped when his left shoulder was dislocated and stuck it back into the holster.

He climbed back up into the stagecoach, the gun in his right hand pointing back to the young woman and Budd on the ground while Judy carried out the tasks he gave her.

"Is your shoulder dislocated?" Ren also climbed onto the stagecoach and knelt down on one knee by Hux's side, holding Hux's left hand.

"Let go of my hand." Hux said without looking at Ren, he was still focusing on the people on the ground. The young woman tried to reach Budd's gun that was knocked on the ground by Ren's shot, so Hux shot at the gun again. The sparks made the young woman flinch.

"OK." Ren let go of Hux's hand and moved up one hand to his arm and the other to his shoulder.

"Ah! What the fuck!" Hux screamed out, and then realized Ren had put his dislocated shoulder back into the socket.

"You're welcome." Ren sat back into his side of the seat.

"We are ready to go!" Judy had led the other stagecoach to the side of the road and let the horses loose. With a boom, she set the stagecoach on fire and jumped back into her driver's seat. Their stagecoach set off on their journey again, with the other stagecoach exploding into pieces behind them.

Hux stuck the gun back into the holster and stared at Ren. Processing what just happened made his head hurt. Clearly Ren and the three weren’t working together. But after disarming all three of them, Ren did not turn his gun barrel to Hux and blew Hux's brain out. The advantage Hux had over Ren's balls were more like _Ren let him_ rather than _Hux was on top of it_. More importantly, Ren did not need to put back Hux's dislocated shoulder. He could've left Hux in pain or let Hux fix his shoulder himself, if he could actually manage that without blacking out from the pain. None of these made any sense to Hux.

"Your wound started to bleed again." Thinking about his own shoulder, Hux noticed Ren's old wound and handed Ren the medical kit.

"You are not helping me with it?" Although Ren threw out the tease, he didn't wait for Hux to respond, and went ahead to attend his own wound.

"I was a General during the war." Hux had questions for Ren, a long list of questions. But he didn't know what kind of answers he was expecting. He didn't know what kind of answers would satisfy him. So he started with himself, and kept the explanation simple, although he didn't quite see the logic in doing this either.

"On which side?"

"The side from which you could walk away with both legs, both arms and the rest of your life to live." Hux looked away from Ren when saying this.

"My family also fought in the war, on both sides actually. But I had run away a long time ago." Ren did not look up from his shoulder.

Not sure whether he wanted to further explore Ren's family history, Hux reached into his backpack and took out his pouch of tobacco. He started rolling himself a smoke. The rustling sound made Ren look up, but he didn't say anything and went back to cleaning and patching his wound.

When Hux finished rolling, he licked the wrapper to seal it and lighted it up with a match.

"Could you eh... roll me one of those?" Ren was done with the wound and handed back the medical kit to Hux.

Hux considered Ren through the light smoke he blew out, and reached out his hand with the smoke. "You can have this one."

"Thanks." Ren took over the smoke.

"So do you remember the girl's father?"

"The revenge girl? No. I'm not particularly interested in the family trees of those I kill, assuming I actually killed her father." Ren rested his hand with the smoke on the stagecoach window.

"Why didn't you kill them back there?"

"Would you let me?" A glimpse of smile flashed through Ren’s face.

"Fair enough." It took Hux a long moment to swallow the question and came up with this response. He was not even convinced that he would actually kill Kylo Ren right there if Ren shot those people dead.

"You were a bit young to be a General." Ren circled back to the previous topic. When Hux gestured to ask for the smoke back, Ren handed it back to him.

"People above you got killed, you know, and you move up. It was a nasty war, a lot of people died." Hux took a long drag at the smoke, waiting for Ren to come back with more questions or something about himself.

"Your folks still around?" When Ren didn't respond to his previous comment, Hux continued, and handed the smoke back to Ren for the last few drags.

"I don't know." Ren sounded genuine, but indifferent.

"They must have seen your wanted posters here and there, if they are still around." Hux somehow found this amusing and disturbing at the same time.

"Relax, they won't come for my rescue." Ren let out the last drag of smoke and flung the butt out of the window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hux's comment on warfare might be OOC.
> 
> Again I apologize for all the references, really can't help myself.
> 
> The final chapter will take some time...


	4. You gonna wait to watch it?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the last stage to the Sheriff's town...

The rain had been pouring down since before lunch time. It was a nice change of weather, cooled down the air from the almost unbearable heat. But it was slowing down their journey.

Hux asked Judy whether she needed to stop and wait for the rain to die down. Judy said something about Six-Horse Judy wasn't only capable of controlling six horses but also roaring through all kinds weathers, so they went on despite the heavy rain.

Either the rain was following them or it was covering the whole area, it continued on the whole afternoon, although not as heavy when they pulled into the stagecoach station.

Hux's original plan was to travel to the next town and then call it a day, but he decided to rest here. They could still reach the Sheriff's town tomorrow, just not by lunch. Hux figured he could live with half a day of delay. Part of him was even glad of having a few hours more on the journey.

The half extra day was not the only thing out of Hux's plan. Of course the whole journey did not turn out the way Hux wanted, with the other bounty hunters and Ren's red in the ledger on their asses. But what concerned Hux the most was Ren's attitude and, more importantly, his own attitude. Hux might be imagining things, but he definitely felt that Ren was enjoying the journey, not just more than he should have, but actually enjoying it. Hux had to remind himself again that they were not travel companions, but bounty hunter and prisoner.

Hux was also enjoying the journey, but not in his usual way. He would never tell anyone what he did to his prisoners. If you called him out he would tell you he had a perfect reason, they were trying to escape, which was not a lie. But Hux would never admit that he was counting on them trying, and this was the real fun part of his usual journeys.

With a big bounty like Kylo Ren, Hux thought he would try to escape every step of the way. However, Ren didn't try even once.

Without the usual stunt, Hux did not understand, not for the least bit, how he could be looking forward to an extra half-day, and even pitying that it wasn't even longer.

 

Now watching Kylo Ren sitting across from him at the table, looking at the rain outside, Hux wanted to ask something around the line of 'last words' or 'message for anyone' but he couldn't. _Ren has been awfully quiet today, maybe the hanging is finally sinking in_ , thought Hux.

"When I hand you over, you will be taken by the county jail, stay there for a day or two, maybe even longer if the hangman is busy. Anyway they will schedule a day for your execution, and you will be waiting in county jail." Hux explained. He did not understand why it was necessary to do so though.

"You gonna wait to watch it?" Ren was still looking outside the window at the rain.

If this was any other time, Hux would say _You know I am. I wanna hear your neck snap with my own two ears_. But he only said _Yes_ this time.

Just as Hux was pondering whether there was anything else to add, the door was kicked open. The door flew straight towards the window on the opposite side. A man jumped in with a shot gun in his hands and fired at Ren and Hux, not exactly at either of them, but at the chain between them.

_Why didn't Ren warn me about this man?_ Hux almost wanted to kill himself for this being his first thought. _Of course he wouldn't, you idiot! This is his fucking accomplice!_

The chain was shot but didn't break. Ren tried to pull away as he anticipated the chain to break, but was dragged right back by Hux.

"Not so easy, you motherfucker!" Hux dragged Ren between himself and the gun man who was dashing towards them. Now Hux had a look at the gun man's face, he recognized him as one of the people Ren met in the days before he was apprehended.

With Ren in between and no clear shot, the gun man dropped the shotgun and came to grab Hux's arm. Hux wanted to drag Ren with him backwards to stay away from the gun man, but was flipped over by Ren over the head on his back onto the floor.

The gun man reached down to pin him on the ground as Ren stood up from Hux. With a split second of freedom from restraints, Hux flung the chain onto the gun man's neck to yank both him and Ren off balance.

Ren tried to keep his own balance, which tightened the chain around the gun man's neck. When Ren steadied himself, he knelt down onto Hux again to keep him in place.

The gun man stumbled a few steps forward and finally got onto his feet. He freed himself from the chain and came back to grab Hux off the floor. "You wanna strangle me you piece of shit?! Now who's strangling who!" The gun man shouted into Hux's ear as he wrapped his arms around Hux's neck with a choke-hold. To prevent Hux from using the chain as a weapon again he also dislocated Hux's shoulder in the meantime.

Hux almost wanted to thank the gun man for the choke-hold as it was keeping him from feeling the excruciating pain from the shoulder. Until of course, the absence of air sent him close to being unconscious. He tried to fight back, but the gun man's grip was so tight and strong he couldn't even move any part of his body.

"You really took your time." Seeing that the gun man had got Hux under control, Ren rose up and started to fish through Hux's pockets to find the key for the handcuff.

"Leader Snoke was upset. You didn't finish the mission, nor did you report in." The gun man didn't seem to be addressing Ren's complaints.

"And yet he sent you after me _alone_." Finally found the key hidden in a sewn-in pocket on the inside of Hux's belt, Ren unshackled himself.

"Well I'm the only one in this region. You think I want to come looking for you? It'll take too long for others to come." The gun man was still straggling Hux.

"You signaled them yet?" Ren also unbuckled his gun and sword from Hux's belt.

"Not yet. I'll do it when we finish this bastard."

"Let him breathe a little, I need to finish him myself." Ren said while loading his gun.

The gun man loosened the choke-hold on Hux and Hux desperately took in a deep breath. The pain from the shoulder also came back as he regained full consciousness.

Ren raised his gun. Hux looked him dead in the eye. _You better look me in the eye when you put that bullet in my head_ , determined Hux. Ren pulled the trigger, with a hint of smile on his lips.

However, the bullet didn't blow out Hux's brain, instead, Hux felt something warm covering his head and that he had been entirely let go from the restraint.

While Hux was watching the gun man slowly dropped to the floor in his own blood pool, still shocked, Kylo Ren picked up Hux's gun and started dissembling it.

"Mr. Hangman, this is our goodbye." Ren randomly threw the gun parts all over the floor. "If you haven't comprehended it yourself, I'll spell it out for you: There is no scenario in which you take me in to hang." As he was dissembling the guns, he moved closer to Hux and leaned down. He was so close that his lips were brushing Hux's cheek when he spoke.

When Ren threw the last few pieces of gun parts away and tried to stand straight up again, Hux jumped up and pushed both of them on the floor again. He tried to grab Ren's gun, but Ren's sword was already rested on his neck.

Hux caught Ren's eyes, and he was puzzled by what he saw. It wasn't the _Don't fucking try me_ he expected, but more like _Please don't make me do this_.

_Fuck it_. Hux cursed to himself, thinking it must just be his brain still recovering from lack of air. Decided not to worry about the sword on his neck, even if it might cost him his life, Hux pulled out Ren's gun and shot him in the chest.

Ren fell to his side onto the floor, his sword never moved an inch further into Hux's neck. A pool of blood quickly formed by his body. Hux knew Ren would bleed out soon.

Hux was exhausted from the fight, he was still shocked by the shot the gun man took right next to his ear, he was still dizzy from not enough air, and of course his shoulder still hurt like hell. He slid down next to where Ren was lying, carefully avoiding the blood pool, just to catch his breath.

Hux took out his pouch of tobacco again. He managed to roll a joint with his one remaining movable hand still shaking. As he was puffing away, he could hear Ren's gasps going shallower and shallower, with the blood pool growing bigger and bigger and finally reaching Hux's feet. Ren's whole body was shivering and twitching from either the pain, or the cold but he didn't scream or groan or make any sound other than the shortened and rapid breaths. Hux ran his hand through the hair fallen in front of Ren's face to tuck it behind his ear and realized Ren had been looking at him through his hair. _Is that relief in his eyes?_ Hux thought he must have been losing his mind.

Ren moved one of his hands up, but couldn't really reach Hux. Hux wasn't sure whether Ren was asking for the smoke, but he put the joint between Ren's lips anyway.

Hux had so many things he wanted to ask, but the one word burning at the tip of his tongue was _WHY_ , both for himself and for Ren, for everything happened in the last five days and everything he wanted to know. However, Hux was frightened by the fact that he didn't know exactly what to ask, and that he didn't even know how to answer from his side.

"Thank you." Ren said after a while, almost impossible to hear.

"For what?" But Hux never got a response.

 

Indeed Kylo Ren was right, there was no scenario in which Hux could take him in to hang.

\-------------------------------------------------

"So what we got here... All three bodies have one entry wound in the back, no exit wound. Facial features all match the sketch and description on the handbills." The Sheriff put down the processing reports and started writing the reward. "Haven't seen you for a long time, Mr. Hux. Thought you retired."

"Business is everywhere. I've been busy, still in the game." Hux laughed a little.

"But your game has changed. You are bringing in dead bodies now." The Sheriff picked up the report again and waved them at Hux.

"My handcuff is broken, haven't got around to making a new one."

"Maybe you are just getting used to the easy way!" The Sheriff grinned and handed the reward note to Hux.

"Thanks."

What no one would ever know was that Hux's handcuff was not broken. It was still lying in his backpack, both cuffs well locked, linked by a strong chain.

Hux just couldn't picture himself being attached to anyone else by it ever again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here we are, at the end. This didn't quite turn out to be what I had in mind at first but at least it's now finished.
> 
> Names, objects and lines referenced from the following movies:  
> The Hateful Eight (obviously...)  
> Pulp Fiction  
> Kill Bill  
> Death Proof  
> Inglourious Basterds


End file.
